December 21, 2003

Baghdad Holidays, 12/20

Written 10 Dec - 20 Dec

Hi everyone, sorry it took so long to write, It's hard to write letters at this time of year; must admit it's kinda depressing to be here in Iraq for Christmas.

Not much is going on, same ol’ same ol’. The attacks against us have decreased tremendously. We haven’t had a mortar attack for about a month after we took out the little hamlet outside our gate that the bad guys were using as a launching point. Our worst problems right now are MVAs (moving vehicle accidents-ed.); brand new Stryker vehicle force got into country and one of the first things that happened was a rollover into a canal. While the new Strykers are supposed to float, they don't do too well up-side-down. Unfortunately, we lost 3 soldiers to that accident - but managed to save one young man - eager to rejoin his friends in the Stryker force. More power to him - it's hard when you are a survivor of an accident. Especially this time of year. But he wanted to go back.

The Media
We had some reporters here – World, BBC and others - they really pissed a lot of people off, initially. One of the first questions asked was to a nurse who was taking care of a couple of the Iraqi kids we have here (the kids were hurt by us - an American attack - and the commander of the force wanted to make sure they got the best of care, so begged our hospital to take them out of the Iraqi hospital they were in, and put them in ours. So some of our docs went over and now we have three kids). Anyway her first question was "how does it feel like to treat kids hurt by YOUR own forces?" - the nurse involved said something like – “well, I don't know about that - I'm a nurse, taking care of them”. The reporters didn't get many more interviews from us. I let one ask me questions - she tried to get me to "admit" we, in a MASCAL situation (or any situation) would treat Americans FIRST, then Iraqis. Or that we treat Iraqis less. Well, a little thing called the Geneva Convention is very clear on the treatment of EPWs, which is what I kept mentioning. Also, Army policy has always been - worst hurt gets treated first. Period. Regardless of nationality. Which is what we do. Seems the reporters come over here with a story already written, then just look for situations that support their blinkered view of the world.

The reporter kept hinting she wanted to see the EPW, and film them. I keep saying no, can't, Geneva Convention. Found out latter they tried to get into the EPW tent. MPs said "No" The reporter started harassing the MP regarding our treatment of the EPWs, “are they getting their red cross packages?” etc. Poor MP, of course, had no idea. The MPs that guard our EPW came here for a break. This is an R&R rotation - they know they will not get shot at here, will have a warm tent and warm food, showers (ok, not all the time - there was NOT hot water this AM - another beautiful day in Iraq) and only stay for a week at a time. The World Report article that came out, though was very fair and factual - it surprised me. Here’s the San Antonio article. Still don't know what the BBC will print though....

The Arrival
The C5s have arrived to our little airstrip – first one about a month ago. Was a significant event – means that Balad has become a hub, and we should be able to get our supplies better/quicker. Of course this doesn’t mean that we are getting the part we need to fix the toilets. Nope, our high-tech, flushable, containerized, running-water, lighted and heated toilets - are still broken. And the story goes.

The C5s truly are huge - it's one thing to read that it's as long as a football field, quite another to see it lumbering across the field to park. The first one that flew in was parked next to a C17 purposely for comparison – the air force was doing a publicity thing with the first C5 in Balad – cameras and reporters, had both ends open and driving trucks through it. The jet isn’t as noisy as I thought it would be. Except for takeoff and landing, that is (then it really makes it's presence felt).

Lately they have been revving the engines as high as they can go with the brakes on, then taxiing down the runway fast to shorten their takeoff length. As soon as they’re up high enough so that the wings can clear the ground, they put the plane on its wing, bank steeply left, and start spiraling around our LSA until they get up about 5,000 feet – then fly away. This is done to discourage people from shooting things at them – seems one of the C5s was shot at while it was coming in for a landing on our field. The air force does NOT like to put their planes into danger. It’s an amazing thing to see this HUGE plane spiral up. Your brain has trouble adjusting to its sheer size. I was impressed. Of course since the SAM attacks against the plans, our mail has slowed drastically down - I hope I get my Christmas stuff prior to Christmas... We will still have to eventually move the hospital (the air force still wants to build a ramp to park the C5s here and it would be hard to share the space - we'd get sucked into the engines - which could hurt them) - but now they won't start building 'till next year. And they are going to put down concrete slabs for the hospital tent floors - after 8 months of trying to push small-wheeled wheel chairs over uneven dirt floors that would be a real treat...I know the patients would enjoy NOT being bumpily-bumped to x-ray and back.

Now the C130’s are still landing on our field (prop plane) – basically the army workhorse. It’s usually what transports our patients to Baghdad or further. They are noisier than the C5s because they park with their tails towards the hospital (do ya think this is a commentary?), and rev their props, blowing clouds of dust at us. (choke cough) The noise is incredible. So's the prop wash. Most of the aircraft do NOT shut their engines off - even loading or unloading - the C130 can load and unload in less than 30 min, the C5 might take a bit longer - but they are fast.

No More Dust
The dust here is a lot less. It started to really rain here finally just before Thanksgiving. Remember that 4–6 inch layer of talc-like pouffy dust we had? Well, it quickly became a 6-12 in layer of clingy mud. The ground here tends not to absorb the moisture either, so, as it continued to rain, the waters, they started arisin’ and arisin’. Our wonderful tents acted like tents everywhere and began to leak. We ended up with some of our flooring completely underwater, or floating on a layer of thick mud, and a couple of streams running across our wards. I decided to re-slogan our hospital to “a river runs through it”. It got a lot of laughs when I posted our new slogan at the hospital entrance. Our ER entrance was under about a foot of water, which made it pretty inaccessible (someone put up a sign “no life guard on duty, swim at own risk”). Our DCCS closed off all the hospital entrances except the main entrance in order to try to contain the mud a bit. OK, say you are a soldier. Say the hospital exit you want to use is zipped off with a couple of chairs blocking it, and sign saying closed do not use and the door is fastened shut - what do you do? YES! You try harder to go through it!!! AND decide it’s the way to come back into the hospital in spite of the pond of mud surrounding it.

* sigh *

And they tend to get a snarky attitude when some Major questions one’s cognitive functions – or lack thereof. (Oh, no, not me; would I embarrass someone with the brains of a sand fly like that?)

Push-ups anyone?

Our living tents (can you call this living?) also leaked, and a couple corners of the big FAST tents collapsed from the weight of the water collecting in the corners – these tents hold about 60-70 people. Some woke up with the roof of the tent a couple of inches from their nose - and another beautiful day in Iraq.

After the first wave of heavy rains the powers-that-be decided to cover all of the tents that leaked with tarps to help keep the water on the outside. This included my tent. Now these tarps have been piled up at the CP tent for a few weeks. They were acquired for just that purpose. So. Now why, inquiring minds want to know, did “they” wait till AFTER our first big rainfall to put them over the tents? Well, the tarps were blue. The powers that be did not like the pretty blue tarps. Or so the story goes. I guess they just didn’t match the decor. The problem with the tarps is the noise they make in the wind. Take a piece of paper. Put it up to your ear. Now shake it hard. Magnify by, oh, a thousand power. Then try to sleep. Wonder why we get fatigued?

We actuality had it easy, some areas on post had 3 feet of mud/water in the living/sleep areas.
Turkey StoriesOur turkey became the guest of honor at one of our dining facilities - no, no, they didn't eat him - he became part of a not-so-static display (the dining facility workers found out why the turkey's nickname was Houdini - by the by - wish I saw THEM chasing the damn thing around their compound - snicker). ANYWAY, the turkey got his picture taken by lots of soldiers standing in line for Thanksgiving dinner (food must have been good right? after all, we stood in line for an hour to 1.5 hours just to eat there...) Actually the food wasn't bad, and the workers all had pilgrim vests and hats on - kinda ironic as most are from India. Will be even more Ironic during Christmas as most are Hindu and Muslim...

I am please to say our turkey was returned in good health to a local farmer, who was paid to keep him healthy and happy (Colonel **** demands a picture at least one a year with a local current newspaper to prove it’s still not eaten...)

OK, I did think it was neat the President showed up in Baghdad for 2.5 hours - can you imagine flying 17 hours, staying for 2, then flying 17 hours back? This to a place where Generals are barred from unless they have a mission, ‘cause it's so dangerous. Of course when he picked up the centerpiece as a joke (had a turkey on it for display - the rest of the turkeys were already sliced in long pans ready for serving to the 600 or so soldiers there...) the media decided this was a photo op and that he had staged the whole Thanksgiving dinner thing. Man - as if the dinning workers knew he was coming - I mean NOT!

* sigh *

Holiday Spirit
Now as the Christmas season is approaching, Colonel ****'s wonderful mother has sent us some Christmas decorations (a truly wonderful person, sent us Thanksgiving decorations too). Colonel *** actually put up some decorations, grumbling under his breath - "I don't do this at home, this is the first decorations I've put up in years..." We managed to ignore his soliloquy until I began to whistle, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." Well, guess who was told to stop whistling and start decorating? D'oh

Anyway, that's the last we saw of the Colonel.

One of the decorations sent by the Colonel's mother was an 8-foot tall forced-air blow-up Santa Claus. Lighted. Santa resides in the front of the hospital near my desk so everyone who comes into the hospital is greeted by the Santa. Makes quite a stir. Especially the night it disappeared, and ended up on top of the hospital, waving a hello to the fedayeen in the area. To show MY powers of observation, I didn't even notice it was gone, until I walked out to the outhouse. And their it was. 8 feet of lit up Santa in all of its glory, sitting on top of the hospital at the ER entrance. I didn't even see "them" remove it from our "lobby"! (Must have done it while I did rounds) Now, THAT made a stir. EVERYONE denied knowledge of the incident. This in a hospital in which the commander didn't want Christmas light outside cause they targeted the area. Good Joke - even the commander didn't order it down right a way.

The next night it started to rain - so I had the ER crew take it down (it is not weatherproof, and I didn't want a sizzling Santa on my hands)

So, we have lots of decorations up, people are singing carols in the hospital, colorful packages are coming in and it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. One group in residence at this old Iraqi AF base has the old sidewalk electric lights lit (there is no power here yet - ALL of our electricity comes from multiple diesel generators all over - someone must have connected one of the generators to the electric lines going from light to light....) The lights are kinda dim, but it sets up the background. EVERY tent along the sidewalk has a Christmas light display. A regular Michigan Avenue of lights - (OK, so, I'm showing my Chicago roots). So, we, too, can go look at the Christmas lights.

Unfortunately, it really doesn't make up for Christmas at home. I am going to work Christmas Eve night, and sleep through Christmas day. Mmmmm, come to think about it, it does sound like what I would do at home anyway. Become a Nurse; spend all your holidays with friends - at work...

Dad and Patty sent me a great box - made it here in time. Among other things it had lots of xmas lights, a few candles, chocolate milk and mini-marshmallows, and a pretty stained Glass Christmas tree votive with extra votive candles. (OK guys - Candles. Tents. Fire. Which of these things don't belong together?) BUT, on Christmas eve, at midnight, I'm going to take the Stained glass Christmas tree votive, the hot chocolate and the mini Marshmallows and go out AWAY from the hospital tents and have my own mini Christmas tree lighting, hot chocolate and mini - marshmallow roast. Hey guys - LOVE the singing snowmen - and the little stunt car you sent, too.

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I've asked my fellow MilBloggers to submit "notable posts" they've written in the recent past for inclusion here, with a quick summary in their own words. I've taken the liberty of linking to some of their stuff that I choose... [Read More]

Tracked on December 21, 2003 at 02:26 PM

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Tracked on December 24, 2003 at 10:34 AM

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I've been reading Military Blogs the last few days; I saw a link to the one that told us about Saddam's capture, and have been surfing through their links. These are the ones that impressed me the most: Jeremy Botter... [Read More]

Tracked on December 31, 2003 at 02:54 PM

Comments

Major Pain, I post your letters in a senior news group where we discuss senior living and current news.

Needless to say, Iraq and our troops are discussed daily.

We read your letters with much interest and support.

Glad you saved Santa.LOL!

As you work towards healing both troops and civilians, realize you give the Christmas spirit everyday you are there.

major, I've said it before, but i gotta say it again--all those years I sat up late at night watching MASH, I thought they had exaggerated for the sake of TV. Now following your life at the CSH, i'm find out that, nope, no exaggeration: it's all true. it really is that nuts. that's real life!!

hey major! i just finished reading this aloud to my son and the funniest thing hit me--that 8 ft tall santa is a perfect symbol for us, what the US is coming to Iraq to do! Maybe seeing Santa all over the place, and having him explained to the iraqis, will finally begin to make the diehards 'get it' what we're all about!
"he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake"? 'He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake'?
what better one-man lesson for the holdouts to see, than a bigger than life jolly white guy with a bag of gifts on his back, who comes outta the sky with a list of who's been bad or good in the last year, and who hands out his gifts to those who've been good, and leaves a lump of coal to those who've been bad?!?!?!?!?
if that isn't America, i don't know what is.
maybe watching us go thru our peculiar rituals around christmas, they'll begin to understand what makes us, us. the generosity, the lighting up and prettying up of the ugliest, darkest, most miserable, cold season of the year, the giiving of gifts to the good, and even the bad get a lump of coal--whech, if ya think about it, may be black and seem cruel, but in the cold of the year, shows that the bad aren't totally shut out. it shows thoughtfulness for them, in that they still can light that lump and burn it, to keep warm, and if they repent of their bad and show some initiative and willingness to work for their own situation, can find more fuel to add to the little blaze and make it grow, and share it with others, and if they work at rehabbing their attitude, can change and rejoin the great human family of love and giving, and getting more than just their barest necessity.
Tell em, if they want to understand America, they should understand Santa Claus.

Nice blog, I've enjoyed reading it and seeing the "other side" since I'm here in the states. I'm one of the guys who load/unload the cargo planes. the c5 is a large aircraft and an incredible machine but the c17 is newer and has some things about it that make it much better to work with. the c17 also makes a great med-evac plane and even has kinda/sorta airline seats for passengers not needing the med-evac stuff.

sorry, i'm kind of rambling here but basically, it's just something to "share" back with you. I do hope you all continue to be safe and know that some air force guy is rooting for you all.

Your mention of "the little stunt car" reminded of something. During WWII, the family sent "stocking stuffers" to my uncle, aboard ship in the Pacific. Among them were several little plastic cars with balloons for power(rocket!).

Sailors being as they are, I doubt it took more than thirty seconds for the start of races and the exchange of money! Uncle Bob says it was the best thing to happen to him during the war!

I am a general contractor and Jopurnyman carpenter. I am very interested in applying to contrqactors to help rebuild Bagdadi. I am having a hard time locating these companys. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

England (pronounced ing-ger-lund) is widely regarded by people with a lesser intelligence as The United States’s little bitch puppet. It is the largest exporter of haters of Scotland and pakistan (due to brown friday). After brown friday when pakies raided airbases, stole choppers, and airlifted all of Englands call centers off to India, and as of 2006 the british public have had to learn pakistani if they want tech support with there internets, it didnt take long for the banks to follow suit and now Pakistani is Englands second language with gook following a close third and polish creeping in at fourth. british telecom thought it would be a wise idea to change there name to Bombay telecom. England was created in 1066 by the Satan himself, just after creating Marmite. England is (without question) the greatest country on earth as long as you aren’t fleeing opression or ethnic cleansing in your homeland or happen to be french, some would say its best to have no sense of smell as most corner shops are run by pakies that dont seem to be familiar with normal household products such as Cillit Bang!Motorbike games ¦
England is the only thing that has kept the hatred of the French alive, until the USA picked up the torch in 2003 now in 2007 Canada, Australia, Asia and most of Europe have joined there crusade to mock the french. Hating the French, or “Frog Bashing”, has been an English national pastime since the rout and slaughter of the French nobility at The Battle of Crecy in 1346 and Battle of Agincourt in 1415. England is also commonly believed to be a ficticious fantasy island inhabited by fraggles and gummi bears a few miles off the coast of Newfieland, Canada (aka Hoserland) by some americans that dont own passports. Contrary to popular belief, England was NOT struck by a gigantic Iceberg the white debris had in fact blown down from Scotlands dandruff problem. It remains the most populated floating object in the universe.Motorbike games ¦
The greatest practical joke ever played on the French by the British occurred in 1940. The French fleet was laying at anchor in Mers-el-Kebir, French North Africa (now Algeria) when elements of the Royal Navy Mediterranian Fleet blasted the crap out of them. Oh how DeGaulle and Churchill laughed about that in later years. Motorbike games ¦
The Roman Empire did not fall in a battle of war. There was no single big clash of arms that drove it to its knees. It was corroded from the inside. At one stage, the wealthy held so much gold coins that there was not enough currency to keep services to the public going. By keeping the money to themselves the wealthy had simply run the nation into the ground.
History is strewn with such examples. Has this now happened to the United States? Or is the US too big to fail?Motorbike games ¦
You have seen how a handful people were lucky enough to win a big lottery or hit that $1 million jackpot at a casino. (And you wished them happiness with their new wealth, of course.) How often have you wondered if it is worth playing the lotto or gambling? In short, what are the odds of winning?Motorbike games ¦
Calculating the odds
Wagering against a randomizing value is risky. It mostly is a game of chance but you can increase your chances of winning for instance at poker or blackjack by requiring some skill. It also will help if you educate yourself somewhat in probability theory. Unfortunately you won’t be able to cut a deal with the father of probability theory, Girolamo Cardano, who was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, because he passed away in 1576. Even if you had such opportunity, Cardano, an ardent gambler, would probably have advised you to carefully consider Nicolaus Bernoulli’s St. Petersburg Paradox.Motorbike games ¦
The odds of winning your local lottery is around 18 million to 1, that is 18,000,000 to 1. The odds of winning Powerball can be as high as 50 million to 1 and higher. The odds of being struck by lightning is actually lower! (The odds of your government fixing the economy is much higher.) However, believe it or not, you have a bigger chance – odds as low as 100,000 to 1 – to win at the casino or online casino.Motorbike games ¦
Keep in mind that in most countries you do pay taxes on your winnings. In the United States you’ll pay 28% tax on your lottery pay-out and up to almost 40% when winning millions. Also keep in mind that you can deduct lottery and gambling losses.Motorbike games ¦
Good! May I play?
Of course you may! While the small number of Muslim-dominated countries with sharia law do not allow gambling, most countries allow gambling, playing the lotto or slot machines, either at casinos or online roulette, even in the United States.
If you’re American, please note the local laws on online playing because the exact legal situation with regards to US online casinos varies from state to state. But regardless of your home state, any law against online gambling affects the casinos and financial institutions and not the players themselves.Motorbike games ¦
Some people profiteered from the spill by charging BP outrageous rates for cleanup. Others profited from BP claims money, handed out in arbitrary ways. So many people cashed in that they earned nicknames — “spillionaires” or “BP rich.” Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting comparatively little.Motorbike games ¦
In the end, BP’s attempt to make things right — spending more than $16 billion so far, mostly on claims of damage and cleanup — created new divisions and even new wrongs. Because the federal government ceded control over spill cleanup spending to BP, it’s impossible to know for certain what that money accomplished, or what exactly was done.Motorbike games ¦
Some inequities arose from the chaos that followed the April 20 spill. But in at least one corner of Louisiana, the dramatic differences can be traced in part to local powerbrokers. To show how the money flowed, ProPublica interviewed people who worked on the spill and examined records, including some reported earlier by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, for St. Bernard Parish, a coastal community about five miles southeast of downtown New Orleans.Motorbike games ¦
Documents show that local companies with ties to insiders garnered lucrative cleanup contracts and then charged BP for every imaginable expense. The prime cleanup company, which had a history of bad debts and no oil-spill experience, submitted bills with little documentation or none at all. A subcontractor charged BP $15,400 per month to rent a generator that usually cost $1,500 a month. A company owned in part by the St. Bernard Parish sheriff charged more than $1 million a month for land it had been renting for less than $1,700 a month.Motorbike games ¦
Assignments for individual fishermen followed the same pattern, with insiders and supporters earning big checks.
“This parish raped BP,” said Wayne Landry, the chairman of the St. Bernard Parish Council, referring to the conduct of its political leadership. “At the end of the day, it really just frustrates me. I’m an elected official. I have guilt by association.”Motorbike games ¦
The economic benefits that rippled through St. Bernard Parish were seen in varying degrees throughout the Gulf. In the six months after the spill, sales tax receipts, a key measure of economic activity, rose significantly in eight of the 24 most affected communities from Louisiana to Florida, despite the national recession. Only one community, in Mississippi, saw its receipts dip significantly. Local governments also profited. A recent story by the Associated Press found that governments along the coast used BP money to buy SUVs, Tasers and other equipment not necessary to clean up oil.Motorbike games ¦
According to sales tax collections, Louisiana made out better than anywhere. Sales tax collections from Plaquemines Parish rose more than 71 percent, while St. Bernard saw the biggest jump of all. The parish collected almost $26.8 million in sales and lodging tax receipts in the six months after the spill, almost twice as much as over the same period in 2009. Flush with cash from cleanup and claims, many fishermen bought new toys, boats and trucks. Sales at the nearest Chevrolet dealer rose 41 percent. Motorbike games ¦
Some of the influx of money can be traced to the efforts of St. Bernard’s parish president, Craig Taffaro Jr., a 45-year-old psychotherapist with a wrestler’s build, a cue-ball head and a trimmed goatee.Motorbike games ¦
Just days into the crisis, Taffaro did what many parish presidents did: He invoked a Louisiana law that allowed him to declare a 30-day emergency and handle the crisis without most normal government checks and balances. But Taffaro used his powers more broadly than most, saying that he wanted to put money back into the community. Unlike the leaders of other Gulf communities, Taffaro — not BP — chose the prime contractor that supervised the cleanup. He and his allies also decided which fishermen would be hired to put out boom and search for oil. At one point, Taffaro hired his future son-in-law to work in the finance department and help on the spill. Motorbike games ¦
In some ways, parish residents seemed to view the disaster and BP’s culpability as a way to recover from earlier blows. More than other coastal communities, St. Bernard bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded almost every home in August 2005. The population dropped almost in half, from about 67,000 in 2000 to about 36,000 in 2010, largely because people didn’t come back after Katrina and the hurricanes that followed. Before the spill, the parish slashed its budget by 11 percent, cutting garbage collection, the fire department and mosquito control. There was just no money. Motorbike games ¦
The spill changed that. Fishermen were paid to lay out protective boom, the floating material used to corral the oil. Contractors were hired to manage the cleanup and provide security. Claims money began flowing to people who said their lives had been upended by the crisis. Motorbike games ¦
The parish government was among the first to benefit, snagging a $1 million check for oil-spill expenses. Parish employees went shopping for cameras, printers, a file cabinet, staplers, six pairs of children’s scissors and 712 shirts emblazoned with the parish name. Some of the money also went to overtime pay for more than 40 parish employees, including three who claimed overtime for picking up dog food for the animal shelter. St. Bernard’s homeland security director, David Dysart, a salaried employee and Taffaro’s good friend, was paid almost $23,000 for working 497 hours of overtime in less than seven weeks. That meant he was working an average of more than 16 hours a day, including weekends. Motorbike games ¦
As the money flowed, complaints spread. Some beneficiaries didn’t necessarily suffer from the spill but had social or political connections. Subcontractors said those at the top of the cleanup creamed off money for doing very little, while those at the bottom earned much less for doing the actual work. Motorbike games ¦
At first, everyone was angry with BP. But as the months wore on, some St. Bernard residents directed their frustration at Taffaro, blaming him for handing out jobs and money to a small group of insiders. Motorbike games ¦
Meanwhile, Taffaro was attacking BP and the federal government in the media, appearing on TV alongside Gov. Bobby Jindal and testifying in Congress. His outrage was palpable. There wasn’t enough boom, coordination or respect for the local government. BP wasn’t making good on its obligations.
The pressure paid off. Taffaro at one point boasted that St. Bernard had doled out more BP cleanup money to commercial fishermen than any other Louisiana parish. His claim is impossible to verify, because neither Taffaro nor anyone else would provide details about the spending numbers.
BP gave only limited information to ProPublica, and declined to comment on allegations it had been overcharged. The U.S. Coast Guard, the federal agency most involved with overseeing BP’s response, said the government and BP decided cleanup priorities together. Motorbike games ¦
Taffaro and other St. Bernard officials refused to respond to the public-records requests ProPublica began filing in November. When asked again last week why the parish hadn’t provided any records, Dysart said he would be happy to help but that filling the request would take time and cost a lot of money.
“I’m in the process of really, truly trying to assist you,” said Dysart, who is also the parish interim chief administrative officer.
In response to questions submitted by ProPublica last month, Taffaro said through his spokeswoman that he can approve overtime for salaried employees in extenuating circumstances and that Dysart eventually decided to stop taking overtime. Taffaro said there was no law against hiring his future son-in-law because he was not yet married, and that paying overtime for picking up dog food was necessary because the spill had caused fishermen to abandon their dogs.
Taffaro also said that the tax receipt bubble was “a false economy,” similar to what happened after Hurricane Katrina. Motorbike games ¦
NOSTRADAMUS, the French Christian Jew who lived in France in the 16th century, made many accurate forecasts, including the two World Wars. 18 of his 950 quatrains refer to a third world war. Some Nostradamus experts had given the date for the start of such a war as mid-1999, referring to the Balkan conflict surrounding Kosovo. They obviously misinterpreted the quatrains. Their attention then turned to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Motorbike games ¦
NOSTRADAMUS
Born Michel de Notredame on 14 December 1503 in St Remy, France, he was the oldest of five sons. His grandfather, Jean, taught him Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and astrology at an early age. Nostradamus received a medical degree in 1529 and became physician-in-ordinary to Charles IX during the bubonic plague. He is said to have had extraordinary healing abilities. Motorbike games ¦
Nostradamus was in his late 40s when, it is told, he frequently went into a meditative state and had visions of the future. He began to document the visions in a mixture of Lain, French, and Greek quatrains, publishing his famous “Centuries” in 1558. Motorbike games ¦
Nostradamus was married twice, losing his first wife and two children to the plague. He died on 2 July 1566. “Centuries” was translated into English in 1672. In 1781 it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, in 1553, when Nostradamus encountered a group of Franciscan monks he threw himself on his knees, clutching at the garment of one of the monks, Felice Peretti. When asked why he had done this he replied that he must yield “before his Holiness.” Nineteen years after the death of Nostradamus, Peretti became Pope Sixtus V. Motorbike games ¦
What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the Balkan war
The war prophecy is reserved for someone whom Nostradamus refers to as “the tyrant.” He predicted that the Slavs will “change their prince” and “raise an army in the mountains,” suggesting a guerrilla war. He speaks of “when the north pole is united” (perhaps NATO?), and there are many geographical references to the Balkans, such as Greece,
Italy and the Mediterranean. Motorbike games ¦
The war is linked to when the “eagle” (United States) and the “cock” (France) stand together. There also is specific reference to the time when England, Poland and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) “form a new alliance.” The former Eastblock countries recently joined NATO.
He predicted that the Allies will win, that the war will be protracted, lasting seven months, and that it may go beyond the Balkans, toward the north, but that after the war there will be “peace on earth for a long time.” Motorbike games ¦
The forecasts by Nostradamus seemed to be confirmed by other seers, including Nicolaas van Rensburg, the famous South African seer who lived 1862 to 1926. At the turn of the 20th Century Van Rensburg had also predicted the use of electricity, the massacre of six million Jews, the Chernobyl disaster, the rise and fall of Russia, and the European Union – in the last two instances accurately describing the flags before they were designed. Of the third world war, he predicted that England would left weakened, while Germany would rise to become the world’s most powerful nation. Further such predictions by the famous American seer Edgar Cacey are available in the book Predictions for the 21st Century. Motorbike games ¦
What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the WTC attack
“In the year of the new century and nine months, from the sky will come a great king of terror. The sky will burn at 45 degrees… fire approaches the great new city… there will be thunder… The third big war will begin when the city is burning.”
So it is quoted among rumor mongers. The facts are:
Nostradamus appears not to have made predictions about the World Trade Center attack or, at least, none that could easily be understood from the quatrains. He did not mention “the new century,” or “nine months” and New York is not at 45 degrees; the Manhattan latitude is 40° 47' N. For more, see Skeptic’s Dictionary Motorbike games ¦
What then?
Of course, not only have the “experts” on the prophets not always been correct – the seers themselves have not always been quite so accurate in their forecasts. In fact, many predictions have missed the mark.
Time will tell if the Kosovo conflict or, indeed, the World Trade Center attack had put the spark to a bigger barrel. As for the end of the world… Nostradamus predicted it to be the year 3786 or 3797, depending on which Nostradamus expert you believe. Motorbike games ¦
Cryptic numerology:
After the WTC attack on 11 September 2001, Uri Geller asked everyone to pray for 11 seconds for those in need. Why?
The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11 by American Airlines;
Flight 11 had 92 on board: 9 + 2 = 11;
Flight 77 had 65 on board: 6 + 5 = 11;
New York City – 11 Letters;
State of New York – 11th State added to the Union;
See Law of Truly Large Numbers
“To predict is difficult; especially about the future” – Chinese proverb
End of the World predictions
Lost nuclear bombs. Motorbike games